Losses that outweigh gains

Although I read a book about the American Christian missionary Jim Elliot (1927-1956) some years ago, I remember very little about him - save that he died at the hands of a South American tribe while on a missionary expedition. However, there is something he said that I have occasionally heard quoted and which often comes to mind. That being the case, I searched for it and found the following. The first quote is the one I often remember; the other two I think are worth including.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."


"When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die."

"I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you Lord Jesus."

A Diversion

Everybody fiddles with paperclips from time to time. Some people seem compelled to straighten them. I remember reading in a biography about George Thomas, former Speaker of the House of Commons, that this seems to have been something he frequently did. One afternoon, I had a fiddle with a couple of paperclips and a spring and took this image of the product (which can mean something or nothing):

Barcode - 16

This is MaxiCode (ISO 16023) - as created and used by UPS - spelling out Marginalia55.

Before Photoshop

Here's something I found in a book some years ago and kept as a scan. Even before Photoshop was available it was possible to enhance the appearance of a model - although the methods were more cumbersome. I remember seeing the album Island Life - for which this was the cover picture - advertised on the London underground and marvelling at Grace Jones's physique. It seems that she wasn't quite as I'd been led to believe. (We were less aware, if not completely unaware, of what was going on back then.)

The Concept

The Reality

The Reconstruction

The Outcome

The Big Bang Theory - 1

Every so often there one of the characters on The Big Bang Theory says something that is concise and insightful; something that no academic could possibly say about their own field quite so well: it has to be left to a comdey character instead. I have started collecting such quotes. In no particular order, here is the first:

Stephanie: ... So, how was your day?

Leonard: Oh, you know, I’m a physicist, so, I thought about stuff.

Stephanie: That’s it?

Leonard: Well, I wrote some of it down.



From: The Lizard–Spock Expansion
BBT Transcripts
Wikipedia Episode Guide

Happy Stones

Many years ago, when my daughter was at junior school, she came home with a stone with a smiley face on it. She had had a trainee teacher and his parting gesture, I seem to remember, was to give all the children in the class one of these.

Later, at the local church fete, my daughter set up a stall selling stones that (I had collected from a North Wales beach and) she had decorated with smiley faces. She called them 'Happy Stones'. She raised quite a bit for church funds and provided a lot of people with something that would remind them to be happy.
Some time later, in September 2001, I went away to a conference at the University of Cambridge. When I was unpacking, I found the happy stone above secreted in my bag. It is almost impossible not to smile when looking at and handling one of these things.